Khalid Boulahrouz echoed the thoughts of his coach Markus Babbel in identifying VfB Stuttgart as underdogs against Group G leaders Sevilla FC, with his one season at the Spanish club giving him an insight into the quality at Manuel Jiménez's disposal.

Brief spellThe 27-year-old was rarely able to force his way into the Sevilla first team during the 2007/08 campaign, making just six league starts after joining on loan from Chelsea FC as he attempted to force his way into the Netherlands' UEFA EURO 2008™ squad. "That is the past," he said, preferring to concentrate on the current Sevilla selection. "They are clearly the favourites tomorrow. They have a much better depth to their squad and more quality players than VfB have.

'Quality players'"I played for Sevilla back then and can only say that this is a very strong team, which has lots of quality players who can use their individual skills to decide a match," added Boulahrouz, who joined Stuttgart following his spell at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and made 21 league appearances last term. "They are always technically very gifted, play attacking football and score at least once or twice in every match."

Schalke setbackThe Swabian side appear to be relishing the spotlight being cast on their opponents, bestowing plenty of praise on a Sevilla side who became the first club to dish out a league defeat to Real Madrid CF this season. By contrast, the team from the VfB Arena will have to improve on recent showings ahead of Tuesday's encounter, their patchy form highlighted by a 2-1 home defeat by FC Schalke 04 at the weekend that left them 13th in the table.

Improving sideBoulahrouz, who has only featured twice this season following injury, insists that their performance in Saturday's Bundesliga reverse contained signs of recovery and there is a quiet confidence that they will rise to the occasion against a team who sit third in the Spanish Liga. "It is a challenge for us to play this team," added the defender. "It will be very difficult. We have to play somewhat better than against Schalke to be successful here, but I am convinced that we will do just that."

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